John Mitchinson - 1,234 Quite Interesting Facts to Leave You Speechless

1,234 QUITEINTERESTINGFACTS TO LEAVE YOU SPEECHLESS Compiled by
John Lloyd, John Mitchinson,
and James Harkinwith the QI Elves
Anne Miller, Andrew Hunter Murray,
Anna Ptaszynski, Dan Schreiber,
and Alex Bell W. W. Norton & Company Independent Publishers Since 1923 New York | London Copyright 2016, 2015 by QI Ltd
First American Edition 2016 All rights reserved
First Edition For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue,
New York, NY 10110 For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
W. W.

Norton Special Sales at or 800-233-4830 Production manager: Julia Druskin Cover design by Chin-Yee Lai The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Lloyd, John, 1951 author. | Mitchinson, John, 1963 co-author. |
Harkin, James, 1971 co-author.
Title: 1,234 quite interesting facts to leave you speechless / compiled by John
Lloyd, John Mitchinson, and James Harkin.
Other titles: One thousand two hundred thirty-four quite interesting facts to
leave you speechless | Twelve hundred thirty-four quite interesting facts to
leave you speechless
Description: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, 2016. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016019970 | ISBN 9780393254488 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Curiosities and wonders. |
HistoryMiscellanea. | ScienceMiscellanea.
Classification: LCC AG243 .L565 2016 | DDC 031.02--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019970 ISBN 978-0-393-25449-5 (e-book) W. W. W.

Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
15 Carlisle Street, London W1D 3BS None of this would have been possible without the doughty QI Elves hewing the factual nuggets from the Mount of Tedium. Chief among the pickax wielders were Anne Miller, Andrew Hunter Murray, Anna Ptaszynski, Dan Schreiber, and Alex Bell. Close behind them, panning the rich silt, were Rob Blake, Will Bowen, Stevyn Colgan, Mat Coward, Jenny Doughty, Ben Dupr, Mandy Fenton, Piers Fletcher, Molly Oldfield, Justin Pollard, Liz Townsend, and Rich Turner, with further gleanings from non-Elves Carla Bennett, Laura Critchley, Lauren Gilbert, Felicity J.

Muth, James Phillips, Charlie Ptaszynski, and Florence Schechter. And, as ever, weighing the bags of fact dust and testing their quality was Our Lady of the Wheelbarrow, the editor, Sarah Lloyd. Theyre all marvelousand thats a fact. Page numbers listed correspond to the print edition of this book. You can use your devices search function to locate particular terms in the text. This is here to help you find your favorite bits.
Like the facts themselves, weve kept it as simple as we can.

Abcde, 188 Achilles tendon, 274 acronym, 267 Action Man, 247 actors, 52 Adams, John, 109 Aero, 56 affairs, 57 Afghanistan, 47 age of consent, 288 aggression, 166 air force, 242 Airplane!, 83 airplanes, 48, 79, 221 air traffic controllers, 202 Akon, 61 Alabama, 74, 78 Aladdin, 175 Alaska, 47 alcohol, 217, 236 Alcott, Louisa May, 24 Aldrin, Buzz, 8, 162 algae, 14, 263 aliens, 1 Allah, 120 allergies, 152 alphabetical order, 254 amputation, 68 Amsterdam, 187 anecdotes, 10 anemones, 189 anesthesia, 68 animal rights, 127, 128 Antarctica, 118, 245 antibiotics, 292 antidotes, 173 ants, 41, 117, 183, 257 anuses, 31, 93, 117, 118 aphrodisiacs, 295 Apollo 11, 96 applause, 298 Apple Inc., 204 apples, 3 April Fools Day, 204 aquariums, 76 aqueducts, 177 Arafat, Yasser, 274 Archi, 25 Archie, 28 area codes, 265 Argentina, 192, 238 armadillos, 237 armed forces, 72 armies, 9, 47, 69 armpit, 42 Armstrong, Neil, 8 arrows, 161 arses, 157 art, 143 astronauts, 43, 90 asylums, 300 atheism, 186 atomic bombs, 227 austerity, 287 Australia, 26, 153 autobiographies, 229, 254 autopsies, 281 awards, 308 axes, 289 Aztecs, 94 Babbage, Charles, 79 babies, 12, 19, 56, 94, 185, 210, 211 baby carriages, 158 baby monitors, 5 Babys Bottom, 102 Bach, Johannes Sebastian, 179 Back to the Future, 175 bacon, 263 bacteria, 42, 131, 132 Baggins, Bilbo, 249 Bagpuss, 31 baguette, 133 Baird, John Logie, 56 baked beans, 151 bakers, 253 baldness, 224 ballroom, 235 balls, 34 Balmoral Castle, 235 Baltimore, 188 bananas, 160, 161 bank accounts, 270 bankers, 305 banknotes, 111 Bank of England, 111, 193 barbers, 287 Barbie, 282 barrel-maker, 283 Barrie, J. M., 105 bartender, 30 baseball, 17, 288 basil, 173 basketball, 164, 210 Bastard, John, 46 Bastard, Mr., 255 baths, 18 bats, 20, 44, 81, 118, 221, 262, 290 BBC, 155 beach huts, 249 beaks, 248 beards, 135, 196 bears, 157 Beatles, the, 245, 287 bedbugs, 20 beer, 51, 54, 74, 107, 170, 279, 286, 304 bees, 43, 118, 129, 182, 216, 221 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 178 Belarus, 279 Belgium, 5, 54, 145 Bell, Alexander Graham, 24 Ben Nevis, 245 Berlin, 289 Berlin Wall, 289 Bertha, 46 Bhutan, 71 bicycle face, 15 bicycle locks, 238 bicycle paths, 14 Big Bang, 1 Big Macs, 108 bioluminescence, 242 birds, 132, 133, 237, 248, 272, 293 Birmingham University, 14 bison, 144 Bitcoin, 194 biting, 33, 195 blackbirds, 100 blankets, 207 blindness, 115 blood, 65, 132, 279 blue, 101, 161 blue whales, 10, 12 blushing, 27 boa constrictors, 77, 113 Bodleian Library, 254 body language, 79 Boeing, 162 Bolivia, 116 Bollywood, 19 Bolt, Usain, 285, 286 bombs, 1, 194 Bond, James, 52 Bonfire Night, 162 books, 51, 61, 227, 228, 254 Boozer, Young, 74 Bosnia and Herzegovina, 144 bosses, 270 bottoms, 6, 50, 95, 157 boudoir, 230 boxer shorts, 5 boxing, 273, 281 Boy Scouts, 243 Bra, 32 Braille, 202 brains, 39, 65, 112, 124, 206, 248 brain surgery, 116 bras, 32, 142, 222, 304 bread, 240 breakfast, 244 breast-feeding, 296 breasts, 106 breweries, 74, 236 bricks, 304 briefcases, 246 Bristol, 47 Britain, 49, 162, 239, 243, 266, 302 British Library, 254 British Secret Service, 241 broadband, 8 Broadway, 288 broccoli, 108 Bront, Emily, 95 Buchan, John, 301 Buckingham Palace, 4 buffalo, 248 Bulgaria, 50 bullets, 22, 23, 237 bullfighting, 261 bungalows, 249 burgers, 27, 172 burglars, 142 Burns-Cox, Nicholas, 276 Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 228 buses, 130, 192, 266 Bush, George W., 55 Bush, Kate, 95 bust, 210 butterflies, 39, 159 buttons, 203 Byron, Lord, 121 cabbage patch, 74 cackles, 200 Caesar, Julius, 139 Cage, John, 203 cakes, 240 calcium, 173 California, 174, 226 Caligula, 139 calories, 279 camels, 26, 43 camembert, 214 Cameron, James, 300 Canada, 301 candy, 287 cane toads, 117 cannabis, 171 cannibals, 21, 63, 67 can of worms, 232 canyons, 151 cape, 228 carbon dioxide, 97, 184 carotenemia, 3 carrots, 3 cars, 8, 22, 115, 167, 249, 252, 298 Cash, Johnny, 242 cassettes, 223 Cassidy, Butch, 30, 191 castration, 224 Castro, Ins de, 135 caterpillars, 51 catfish, 66 Catherine of Aragon, 164 Catherine the Great, 150 Catholic Church, 149 cats, 93, 95, 110, 111, 113, 139, 165, 189, 263, 273 cattle, 56, 76 Catullus, 84 caves, 20, 21, 23 caviar, 232 celebrities, 265 Celts, 308 cemetery, 240 Cerberus, 264 cereal, 121 chair, 99 chalk, 14 champagne, 141, 231 Chaplin, Charlie, 215 charioteers, 213 Charles I, 11 Charles II, 173 cheeks, 262 cheerleaders, 208 cheese, 63, 69, 171, 199, 269 cheetahs, 11 cheiloscopy, 209 Chernobyl, 127 Cherokee, 114 chess, 1, 73 chickens, 27, 125, 260 children, 40, 171, 186, 299 Chile, 35 chili sauce, 63 chimney sweep, 153 chimpanzees, 108, 277, 295 China, 9, 25, 38, 53, 59, 152, 177, 178, 200, 212, 239, 272, 305, 309 China, ancient, 161, 298 chips, 35, 126, 141, 142 chocolate, 5, 126, 228 choirs, 40, 166 Christie, Agatha, 41, 92, 93 Christmas, 241 Christmas cards, 54 Christmas trees, 53, 138 Churchill, Winston, 156, 200 CIA, 172 cigarettes, 68 cigars, 186 cinemas, 242 cleavage, 106 Cleveland, Grover, 241 climate change, 153 Clinton, Bill, 274 clocks, 116, 309 clothing, 179, 180